The present invention relates to a device for coupling to a support a suspended rail of the type used in material handling systems with overhead track, e.g. with powered trolleys for the conveyance of materials in factories. Usually the supports hang from above and are made up of a hanger at the lower end of which there is present a plate for securing the rail to it with bolts. To seek to improve safety and ease of assembly, there have been proposed hangers having also support means for the rail by simply resting it thereon and requiring bolting to ensure steady positioning on said means. In this manner upon assembly it is sufficient to rest the various sections of the track on the supports and subsequently bolt them together.
But the requirement remains to bolt the supports and rails together, which requires drilling of the rails at each support, complicating installation and increasing costs. Attempts to avoid fastenings which require drilling of the rails have had little success and produce anchoring which, because it does not distribute uniformly the fastening stresses, create zones of excessive stresses with the danger of sudden failure and/or deformation and high wear.
In addition the existing supports always use rigid fastenings between the rail and support and do not permit absorption of the stresses generated by passage of the trolleys along the track, producing stresses which, in the long run, result in deformation and wear of the various elements. This wear further increases unavoidable play between the parts and further hastens the wearing process and also increases the noise produced by the system.
The general object of the present invention is to obviate the above mentioned shortcomings by providing supporting elements for overhead tracks which do not require drilling of the rails, are fast and easy to install, and supply an effectively elastic system with absorption of anomalous stresses and recovery of play between support and rail with simultaneous uniform distribution of stresses.